“You are not done when you are a master”
Some weeks ago, I listened to Jay Shetty’s episode of his podcast “On Purpose” with Adam Grant. While I was listening, Adam said a sentence that hit the spot: “You are not done when you are a master”.
How many times do you (and me as well) think that experts have an answer for all the issues that may arise in their field? Actually, they are experts because they keep going on researching and questioning themselves and their projects. I learnt it well at the university during my master’s degree courses, as professors are good examples of specialists: they keep going on with their projects, write papers, publish books, attend conferences, and so on.
I’ve begun questioning myself if I am a master in something and if I will ever be. Although I graduated in languages and linguistics, using a tiny part of a language every day while working means that that language is getting rusty. To avoid this, I write my articles in English and listen to native speakers’ podcasts. However, I feel the languages I learnt are not applied at all when working in customer service as every day I say sentences such as “Your return has come back on that day to the warehouse, you will be refunded within (timeframe), your parcel is on the way/it will be delivered…” and I feel I made my efforts while studying are not rewarded at all.
If you don’t practice what you can, your skills get rusty. How about improving your knowledge? Adam Grant says: “You don’t freeze the moment you get expert”, that is, your job is not finished once you reach a great level. You have to practice all and over again to keep what you have, and also through teaching you can learn something new and spread your knowledge.
I am not an expert in languages, but I taught Italian for some years when I was living in Austria, and while I was preparing some lessons, I found out something I forgot or did not remember, so I was able to both share my knowledge and improve mine. Adam made me think when he said in the podcast that everyone can be a coach. If you can do something, then you can teach it. I do help my colleagues at work when they have some doubts, but I do not consider myself an expert at all, and I’m not their supervisor. Sometimes I may need advice as well, but helping each other makes me feel useful and remember I can always improve. In Italian, we say: “There is always room for improvement” and immediately my mind depicts a huge blank space where everything can be placed. Imagine a large space where you can put something new: what would you choose? Which new skills would you place in? Which ones would you enhance and spread?
As a new year is approaching and the typical “New Year’s resolutions” are settled, this time I’m not going to let a new year define what my path will be: this time I will use the room for improvement in a better way.
Special thanks to Jay Shetty and Adam Grant for sharing your thoughts and expertise.
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